“
There must be one room left in my house
”: in Roquebillière, in the Nice hinterland, Jennyfer, 29, discovers the damage caused by the violent flood the day before, but resigns himself: “
I lost everything but we are alive
”.
The young woman, who prefers to keep her last name silent, lives and works in this "
EDF city
", a set of ten chalets fitted out for employees of the electric plant on the banks of the Vésubie river, in this village in the Southern Alps. .
On Saturday, she discovered the scale of the disaster, after being evacuated Friday at the height of the weather: more than half of her house was as if blown away by the flood, sections of walls and cables lying in the muddy water , a drifting sofa.
The rest of her house threatening to collapse, she runs back and forth to retrieve bags of clothes, paintings, before it is too late.
Read also: Bad weather in the Alpes-Maritimes: several missing people, Jean Castex fears a heavier final toll
A few meters away, Jean-Louis Mazella, former director of the factory, was luckier: his house still stands, even if it no longer has water or electricity.
"
But what is worrying is that what was a dike, which provided protection, has disappeared, so we are at the mercy of another flood,
" he told AFP.
This tourist village at the gates of the Mercantour National Park, paid a heavy price Friday in the exceptional floods which hit the region: two octogenarians were washed away, under the bewildered eyes of many witnesses.
In terms of equipment, several houses, stables, a fish farming station, but also the EDF power station and a bridge, were submerged by the Vésubie, which had become out of control in just a few hours.
"
I lost 1.3 million euros
"
Also in Roquebillière, the Les Templiers campsite was also devastated.
Its director, Arnaud Leclercq, 45, said: “
it was the bridge in the old village that broke and when it got into the water, the water deviated and fell on my campsite. .
”.
“
I lost 1.3 million euros
”, he concludes, listing “
three cars, 27 mobile homes, dozens of lost locations
”.
"
I only saved the dwelling house, and my family, which is the main thing
."
Read also: Bad weather in the Alpes-Maritimes: the images before / after impressive damage
Thirty kilometers from here, in the neighboring Tinée valley, Nathalie Valori, who ran a mountain restaurant with her partner, has also lost everything.
Their "
baby
", the Mounta Cala, which they had spent two years restoring before opening in January, was "
crossed by mountains of dirt,
" Nathalie Valori describes to AFP by telephone.
The cozy alpine dining room, its walls covered with paneling, seems to have suffered the passage of a hurricane, the kitchen overturned, tons of rubble on the floor, she describes.
"
I'm not even angry because it's nature, but I'm desperate: I'm 54, it was my life project, now what are we going to do?
"Asks Nathalie Valori, grateful to the mayor of the village for"
telling us to evacuate before it is too late
"Friday.
Saturday, Rimplas and its 130 inhabitants is "
cut off from the world
" because it is impossible to access it by road, Mayor Christelle D'Intorni told AFP.
"
We are all stunned,
" said Serge Franco, 61, physiotherapist in Roquebillière.
He had witnessed the last memorable flood in the village, in 1993, "
but it was not of the same order, there it is incomprehensible
".
Saturday evening, Prime Minister Jean Castex, who traveled to the region, expressed his "
deep concern
" about the human toll of these torrential rains.